Yesterday we visited the Morning Star School, a private school in Accra.
The Morning Star School was founded in 1965 by the late Mrs. Esme Praah Siriboe, the wife of a Ghanian judge. She started schooling her own children around the kitchen table and then some neighbors children in the back yard. Now it educates 1000 students, grades K-9. Students in al schools public and private wear uniforms that are special to their school. The family is Methodist, the Christian faith forms an important part of the curriculum. It is now run by the founder's daughter, Nana Abena Kwakyi, who was educated in Canada and at the University of Georgia. She greeted us and gave us a very nice introduction and tour of the school.
That sounds a lot more calm that it actually was! When we first got there, the entire student body, it seemed, greeted us in the spacious courtyard of the school, while a band a brass and drums serenaded us.
The were dressed in bright colors of their school uniforms and some in the uniforms of their clubs today was club day! We saw Girl Scouts, Brownies and Boy Scouts all in their uniforms. The girls were gingham dresses in hues of yellow and the boys are in yellow shirts. All have on white socks and black shoes. They all wanted to meet each one of us and they soon found one of us to latch onto. This was brought to a close with the announcement of a soccer game SAS vs. Morning Star. The game was announced over the PA system and whistles were blown! It was very official! SAS lost 4-1 to the home team! The spectators stormed the field after each goal! After the game the children were sent back to class and we went in for a bottle of cold water and a time for questions.
We toured most of the buildings where there were classes going on. We saw Kindergartener's writing stories, fifth graders doing fractions, other students learning French and Ga, and then we saw their specials. They offer three areas for all 7th graders to explore technical or practical skills: Visual arts, basic design & technology and home economics. The next year or so they decide which area they will study in more depth.
We went to the 9th grade Home Economics room, where the students and teachers were waiting for us with refreshments and a short description of how the cakes were made that we were served. They called them rock cakes and looked and tasted like scones with currants in them. They were very good. There were also three flavors of drinks for us to sample: watermelon and pineapple juice and a native drink made from the leaves of the bissap tree. It has a very unique flavor; Barry remembers that ginger was in it.
We saw the computer lab where 3rd graders were learning about the mouse and right and left click and how to use the menu bar of their computers. We visited the library and the pottery shed. We had more time for questions and some refreshments at the end. The director also took us to her home – which connects to the school – a home her parents built for her mother to be close to the school. She took us there to see the cacao trees growing there. The trees were the only thing between us and the children waving from the classroom.
Jayne writes: "The school does an excellent job preparing the students; I was quite impressed at how much they had done in the five weeks since school had started. It is an excellent school and the director is very proud of it and it's students.
I come away from the school with mixed feelings. I am amazed at what they do there. The administration, the teachers and the students seem to be so focused, so determined and so respectful. I know that last one does not fit – but it does and it is what I see so lacking in our schools – I don't just mean what we normally think of – respect for the teacher, the building or each other – but respect for learning – respect for how one can improve the society by their academic efforts. Seeing our school system with eyes that have been in Morning Star School – I see so much apathy; not just from the students but also from our federal and state leaders, administrators, teachers, parents and students. American public education is complacent. There is no doubt about it; maybe being number one for so long has made the system soft. I don't know the answers, but I know we are not offering what is needed to make our students hungry for learning. The schools cannot do this on their own, it takes a village and unless all involved in our public education do not see what is happening in the US we will continue to fail in our schools. Privilege has a very high cost.
The children in the classrooms at Morning Star are helping clean their classrooms, taking pride in making sure they are neat. They sit tall and respectful in their seats working while 15 North Americans enter their classroom. They greet all they meet with a handshake and introduce themselves. They seem to always be on task. The K classroom does not have what we call centers in it – it has colorful posters on the wall that reflect what is being taught in the classroom or what the expectations are. But 36 students sit at double seated tables and work. There is a resource room on another floor where they can go for a break, that room was not important enough for the director to show us. Education that has to be entertainment does not work."
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